The Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, D.C. (PCSWDC), is an educational organization dedicated to furthering knowledge and understanding of the peoples of the Americas before the time of Columbus. Founded in 1993, the Society provides a forum for the exchange of information regarding these pre-Columbian cultures between academic professionals and interested members of the public.

OCTOBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Incidence of Travel: Recent Journeys in Ancient South America by Jerry D. Moore, PhD, California State University Dominguez Hills.

This meeting will be held at the Charles Sumner School, 17th & M Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C.

The meeting starts with refreshments at 6:45 pm and the lecture begins at 7:15 pm.

Archaeological literature originates with travel narratives—accounts by natural historians and engaged travelers—but today narrative is largely absent in the articles, reports, and monographs we archaeologists produce. In my new book, I argue that there is room within our scholarship for the reincorporation of narrative, particularly as a manner of engaging with a broader reading audience. During my research on cultural landscapes in South America, the intersection of my journeys and my archaeological studies of sites has profoundly deepened my understanding of how spaces become meaningful places. To illustrate this, I will discuss my 2015 journey to the Fiesta of Qollyur R’iti in the southern Peruvian Andes and its implications for understanding dynamics of sacred space in archaeological sites.

Jerry D. Moore, PhD, is professor of anthropology at California State University Dominguez Hills. His research focuses on the archaeology of cultural landscapes in Peru and Baja California. His archaeological fieldwork has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Center for Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, and other agencies and foundations. Currently Moore is a fellow in pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, where he previously was a fellow in 1992-93. He has also held fellowships at the Sainsbury Centre for the Arts, University of East Anglia (1994), the Getty Research Institute (2001-2002), and the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University (2013). He is currently editor of Ñawpa Pacha: Journal of Andean Archaeology. His books include Architectureand Power in the Prehispanic Andes: The Archaeology of Public Buildings (1996, Cambridge), Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists (2012, Rowman and Littlefield,4th edition), Cultural Landscapes in the Prehispanic Andes: Archaeologies of Place (2005,Florida), The Prehistory of Home (2012, California; 2014 Society for American Archaeology Book Award), A Prehistory of South America: Ancient Cultural Diversity of the Least Known Continent (2014, Colorado), Incidence of Travel: Recent Journeys in Ancient South America (2017, Colorado), in addition to articles, book chapters, and reviews.